Figures

Had to go to the Uni today, to do a make-up session for the Excel class I am teaching. Only one student even showed up - an A for her - but we couldn't even get anything accomplished. The email server was supposed to be upgraded today, but it seems that the IT people have taken the entire network offline. What a waste of a trip. Once, it might have not been any big deal to pop into LA and back. But with gas prices the way that they are, it seemed like such a waste of money.

I am sitting at my son's PC and watching a little spider run around on the desktop and monitor. My son says his name is Ted and he hopes he catches anything that tries to get his machine. It's funny, but I used to be so afraid of spiders, until I lived in this house. This place has about 3/4 of an acre of field in the back and there is plenty of wildlife. We seem to be home to quite a few daddy long-leg spiders. Supposedly the most lethal of spiders, it is safe to humans because their fangs cannot penetrate human skin. So, we have have allowed, over the years, hundreds of these guys to make homes all over the place. Living with them has made me less freaked out by other spiders, and hence my new-found tolerance for Ted. I have even tried to pass this live-and-let-live approach off to my younger students, by catching and releasing all the spiders we find in the classroom.

Back to the Grind

So, today is the first day of summer school. I am a bit miffed, because they have me teaching in a room, that is not MY room. All of my cool stuff is across campus, and I am in a fairly FILTHY room, with nothing but desks and chairs. I only have 13 kids, so I will have to call the kids that aren't here and try to get them to come to summer school. You need a minimum of 20 kids to stay working. I need the money so I will call these kids at home and find a way to convince them that we are going to have fun. After school, since I have like 6 hours till the college classes start, I am doing movies and computers, 3 afternoons a week. After 5 days off, I thought I was ready to be here. But I could go for the summer off, I just do not make enough money to go all summer without a paycheck.

How Unpatriotic

I love where I live. It is a nice cultural mix of people, and we all get along very nicely, by leaving each other to our own devices. The 4th of July is no exception. We all have BBQs and light fireworks. We always have the safe and sane kind...as I do not have time to go to Mexico or Nevada to buy the alternative. OK, yeah I was in Vegas...but I was not thinking far enough ahead.

So last night, we are sitting in the driveway, lighting off our modest little fountains of sparks, while our neighbors were shooting off bottle rockets, hundred-shot shooters and giant mortars. Suddenly, an unmarked cop car, screeches to a halt in front of the house. The silly officers inside, pull up so close, the car is showered with the sparks from the current cardboard tube of black powder. They let us know that they are out giving $1,000.00 tickets to people who do fireworks in the city. We, my sons and I, nicely tell them that we have been doing this for years, and not too worry, we will clean up our mess. Every year a nice cop pops by and reminds us to clean up our mess. But these two overly exuberant officers, reiterate, that they go out each year and write tickets to people that are illegally shooting off fireworks. OK, so fireworks are illegal here, but no cop has EVER been such a dick about it as these two. So, sadly, we acquiesced to the "man", let them leave and then continued with our show in the backyard. Yes, absolute power corrupts absolutely, but it has also been said that even those with just a little power, lord it over others in very corrupt ways. All I can say is that the term "pig" is not a misnomer!

I was surprised!

Yesterday was the birthday of a good friend. I popped online to wish him greetings, as we both live far from each other, and discovered he has been reading my blog! I was so surprised! People I know are actually reading these rants. It made me happy.

Blog reading has become one of my favorite activities. I love clicking that little button in the top right hand corner, that reads "next blog". You never know where it will take you or whose life you will get a glimpse of. In spite of the fact that sitting alone with a computer cuts you off from the world, in many ways it brings the world closer. I like seeing the world through other people's eyes. It gives me a perspective of life outside of my little white house.

Tomorrow is Independence Day. Although I love the movie, the day sometimes seems anti-climactic. Oh yeah, we'll do the BBQ thing and light some fireworks, but I have become so disillusioned by the actions of the current administration, that it is hard to find the joy of being an American. Yes we are "blessed" in this country, but at what expense?